Code 3: Finding Safety (9 page)

Twenty Eight

There was no fighting Maryanne to stay home.  The guys were only going to be able to get to Leanna so long as her overprotective, best friend tagged along.  So, after their hearty meal, all four head out to Earl’s property.

The four of them make it to the property line of Earl Dickson in just thirty minutes.  The property is typical of a hillbilly.  There are rundown, rusted cars and trucks littering every square foot along with barrels of garbage and junk. 
How the hell can one live like this
, James thinks to himself as they begin to weave in and out of the maze of stuff. 

Maryanne ducks down beside a shell of a Ford Mustang from the sixties.  “You see that building over there?”  She points toward a building located just behind the main house on the property.

“Yeah,” all three men chime in at the same time.

“That’s what Earl refers to as the dungeon.  If my suspicions are correct, that’s where Mark is keeping Leanna.  That’s where Earl used to beat on Carla, his wife, and I’m sure crazy don’t fall far from the tree.”

“Ok, so, the three of us will go in and clear the building.  We want you to wait here.  Can you do that?”  James says to Maryanne, praying that she doesn’t put up too much of a fight.

Maryanne purses her lips and thinks for a moment before responding.  “I’ll wait here while you clear the building but,” she holds a stare at the three of them, especially Wyatt.  “
But
I will be going in as soon as it’s safe.  Got it?”  She eyes Wyatt. 

James looks between the other two guys.  Travis nods his head but Wyatt holds Maryanne’s gaze.  James has never seen Wyatt so protective over anyone before.  “Wyatt, either you agree or you stay back with Maryanne.  The choice is yours, but I’m heading in to clear the building and get my woman out.”

James begins to trek toward the building while Travis follows behind.  Wyatt follows behind Travis but not before giving Maryanne a piece of his mind.  “You stay here and don’t move an inch until I come back and get you.  Do we have an understanding?”

James heard Maryanne grumble something but was unable to make out what exactly.  All he knew was that apparently what she said was good enough for Wyatt and the guys were heading into unknown territory. 

Leanna’s animalistic scream pierces through the night air.  The men halt in their spot and look toward each other.  They begin hiking faster through the junk when they see the back door of the residence open and slam shut.  A stubby, old man makes his way to the dreaded dungeon.  Leanna’s screams continue to fill the night but the guys have to move slower now that it appears Mark isn’t alone. 

“Ok, Wyatt, you take the back while Travis and I take the front,” James turns and lays out the plan of attack.  Perspiration forms along his brow as he begins to make his way toward the front.

James peers in the window near the front entrance.  Leanna’s chained to the ceiling by chains and cuffs.  Her shirt is removed and there’s clamps on her breasts—her beautiful breasts.  Mark and his dad, he assumes, are bickering by a table holding more torture equipment.  Anger is seeping from his pores. 

“We’ve got to get in there, now,” James turns to Travis.

They quickly make their way to the door.  James and Travis pull their handguns. “1-2…3,” James counts before kicking the door in, sending shards of wood flying through the air.

“Get on the ground,” James yells, pointing his gun at Mark while Travis has his positioned on Earl.  James’ trigger finger is feeling a bit itchy and it wouldn’t take much for him to squeeze.  As if Mark can read his mind, he gets on the ground with his hands out. 

Earl, on the other hand, doesn’t comply easily.  Thankfully, Travis’ trigger finger is steady or else he’d be riddled with bullets by now.  “Boy, you really are a fucking pansy.  This is my house and no way in hell am I getting on the fucking ground,” Earl snarls at James while looking down the barrel of Travis’ .40 caliber handgun. 

Wyatt creeps in quietly and right up behind the ol’ man.  “Is that right?”  Wyatt questions before pistol whipping him in the back of the head.  He knocked him to his knees with one blow.  “Now, didn’t the gentleman over here tell you to ‘hit the ground?’  I think it’s best that you learn to listen ol’ man.”

Wyatt reaches back and grabs a pair of flex-cuffs and makes quick work of securing Earl’s hands behind his back before moving on to Mark.  He puts up a little struggle but a knee to his temple subdues him rather quickly. 

After both men are secured, Wyatt motions for Maryanne to come in while James races to Leanna’s side.  He wraps his jacket around her shoulders.  “Please…please get me down,” she pleads through a parched throat.

“Yes,” James runs over to the table for the cuff key.  He gets her off the chains and safely in his arms when Maryanne comes barreling through the door.

“Oh my God, Leanna, are you alright?”  She squeals as she makes her way toward her best friend.  Tears begin to prick her eyes.  “What did that bastard do to you?”  The tears fall and she swipes them away with the back of her hand.

Before Leanna can answer, Maryanne is at her feet and looking toward the garbage that is restrained on the ground.  “You!”  She screams as she makes her way to Mark. 

James looks on as Wyatt and Travis both try to make it toward Maryanne before she gets to Mark.  They’re too late.  A swift kick lands on Mark’s face followed by a crunching sound and an excruciating wail comes from him.  “You worthless piece of shit, you sorry excuse for a fucking man.  You couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?”

Wyatt wraps his arms around Maryanne, pulling her away from Mark.  “Get off of me.  Get the fuck off of me,” Maryanne shrieks.  “This two time fucking loser needs to get his ass kicked.  Untie his hands and let me beat on him the way he did to Leanna for all those years.”

“Maryanne,” Leanna’s soft voice whispers out to her irate friend.  “I’m okay.  He’s not worth it, honey.”

Maryanne hangs her head as James pulls Leanna closer to him.  “Come here,” Leanna urges Maryanne.  “I haven’t seen you in months.  I need to feel you,” she pleads.

Maryanne’s shoulders slump as she turns and heads back toward Leanna and James.  She drops to her knees and Leanna’s hand extends to draw her in for a hug.  “I take it you’ve already met my boyfriend,” she smiles at Maryanne.  “He’s sexy huh?”

James rolls his eyes as Maryanne lets out a laugh.  “Yeah, he is and he listens a lot better than that friend of his,” she nods over to Wyatt.  “Glad you picked the one that needs little training.”  Maryanne half-jokes.

“Hey now, I don’t need any training,” James tries to defend himself but only makes the situation worse.  The girls hoot and holler as James looks toward the guys signaling for a little help.  They just shrug their shoulders and laugh as Travis fishes for his cell phone to call the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

They all lay low until the FBI arrives to do their investigation.  James holds Leanna close to his heart and lets a tear fall on top of her head.  He almost lost her today and he knows he couldn’t survive without her by his side.  She’s the one he wants to marry and have a family with.  He wants her face to be the first face he sees when he wakes in the morning and the last one at night.  He needs this woman more than he needs his next breath.

Twenty Nine

The little dungeon, as everyone in Danville called it, was swarming with FBI agents.  The sheriff was in hot water for not upholding the laws and they were asking everyone questions, up to and including Travis, Wyatt and James.  The three men could easily lose their jobs and face jail time for what they had done but none batted an eye at the threat.  They all knew that they would do it again in a heartbeat.

“You know what you did was stupid and could have cost us this case,” an agent with salt-and-pepper hair chastised the three men.  “All the evidence we have could be thrown out in a court of law and these two men could get away with their crimes.”

James takes the agent’s words to heart.  He knows that he—they—could’ve jeopardized the entire case.  He also knows that Leanna could’ve been psychologically damaged or worse, murdered, before the government got all their ducks in a row to make entry on the property.  “We’re well aware of what we did and how it could affect your case.  I’m sorry for that, but I don’t regret what I did.”

If the agent had been a cartoon character, smoke would be bellowing out of his ears right now.  “You don’t regret what you did?” 

“No, sir, I’d do it all over again.  I’d love to see Mark and his crazy-ass father prosecuted for what they did to Leanna, but I prefer having my woman alive and in my arms and no criminal charges than to have criminal charges and a dead woman.” 

James shrugs his shoulders to the agent and smiles an accomplished grin.  Yes, he knows that agent, what-ever-his-name, could easily have his badge stripped from him and he’d never work in law enforcement again but seeing Leanna’s smile day in and day out is worth it all. 

Agent Chesterton, that’s his name, breathes a sigh of frustration and defeat.  “I get it, Officer McMullen.  We’ll try our best to get charges on them that will stick and get them behind bars.  If you have any questions or any further information, don’t hesitate to call,” Chesterton hands him an FBI official business card.  “You and your friends are free to leave.”

***

5 days later

The guys stayed in Danville for another day to help Maryanne pack her things.  Maryanne was having no part in Leanna going back to Austin without her.  James had suggested that she stay with them in one of the guest rooms until she was able to find a job and save up for a place of her own. 

The girls were excited and no one had to beg or plead with Maryanne to take James up on his offer.  Of all the people and things that Leanna left behind in Danville, Maryanne was the only one worth a damn and James knew that both women would need each other in the days, weeks and months following this ordeal.

“Come on ladies,” James yells from the bottom of the steps.  They’re meeting Wyatt and Travis at the Double Deuce Bar and Grill for dinner and drinks. 

“Hold your horses,” Maryanne says as she descends the stairs with Leanna trailing behind her.  “Beauty takes time.”

James rolls his eyes and kisses Maryanne on her cheek as she steps down.  He wraps Leanna in his arms and kisses her lips passionately, leaning her back.  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispers as he nips at her earlobe.

“Okay you two, go get a room,” Maryanne pokes fun at them as she heads toward the front door.

James and Leanna laugh as they follow her out to the truck.  Maryanne climbs in the back and steps over her small overnight bag and kicks it further behind James’ seat.  James looks at her and she smiles like a woman holding a huge secret—and she is.

The Double Deuce Bar and Grill is packed tonight.  Wyatt and Travis are located at their favorite booth in the back of the bar.  James, Maryanne and Leanna push through the crowd making their way toward them.  Wyatt jumps up and pushes his way toward the three.  “Hey Maryanne,” he smiles at her.  James knows that Wyatt wants Maryanne but she’s the hard-to-get type of woman.

“Hey Wy, you gonna buy me a drink?”  She pushes through the remaining bodies and makes her way to the table.

“Of course, sweetheart; what would you like to drink?”  He pulls her chair out.

“Double shot of whiskey and a Bud Light.”

Wyatt grabs his chest, “a girl after my own heart,” he acts as if she’s already stolen his heart and James knows that that’s the truth. 

The waitress makes her way over and they order their drinks along with burgers and fries.  The group begins to talk and laugh and have a great time.  James begins to think of what they all went through to get to this point.  No one has talked about the events in Danville and he prefers to keep it that way.  Agent Chesterton called a few days after they arrived back in Austin to inform Leanna that they had found two bodies on the old Dickson property.  They had found Carla, Mark’s mom buried at the back corner and Caroline, Mark’s high school girlfriend, next to her.  Apparently, beating and killing woman was a family affair.  Mark was charged with federal kidnapping along with first degree murder.  Those charges alone would keep Mark and Earl in prison for the rest of their lives, if not give them the death penalty.

James was relieved that there wouldn’t be a long trial where all of them, especially Leanna, would have to testify.  No one is exactly sure what all Leanna had suffered and no one is pushing her to talk about it.  Some things need to be sorted out in one’s head before sharing it with the world, and this is one of those things.

Their food and drinks arrive and they continue to talk between shots and bites.  Leanna is smiling a genuine smile for the first time since she was kidnapped and it warms James’ heart.  He feared he’d never see that smile again and is thankful that God answered his prayers.  It all worked out.  Leanna and James both had their jobs waiting for them and she was saved before too much damage was done to her.

From Here to Eternity
by Michael Peterson begins to play and James holds his hand out to Leanna.  This is the song he’s been waiting to play and now he’s fighting the butterflies in his stomach.  Leanna follows him to the dance floor and begin to sway to the rhythm.  No words are said but the spark is there.  Everyone watching them knows they are in love and are meant to be.

As the song concludes, James hits one knee on the floor.  He pulls a velvet box from his front shirt pocket and looks up at Leanna.  Her eyes are misty and her hands cover her mouth.  “Leanna Brixton,” he uses her maiden name.  “I don’t know what in the world I did to deserve you but I know that I don’t want to spend another day without you.  You have shown me what life can truly be and how beautiful it really is.  I want to spend the rest of my life with you.  I want to wake up and your face is the first face I see in the morning.  I want to go to sleep and it be the last face I see.  I want to raise a family with you and grow old with you.  Leanna, will you be my wife?”

The bar is eerily silent.  You could hear a pin drop.  Leanna is crying—ugly crying.  James kneels there, afraid to move; afraid that she may tell him no.  After a few moments that seemed like hours she finally gives him his answer.  “Yes!  Yes, I’ll marry you, James.”

The crowd erupts in cheers and hoots as James picks her up and kisses her lips.  He lifts her feet off the ground and spins her around in a circle.  “I love you, Leanna.  You’ve just made me the happiest man in the world.  He sits her down on her feet and they make their way to the table.

“Congratulations,” everyone says to them as they hug and shake hands.  “You two are perfect for each other,” Maryanne adds before hugging James and then Leanna. 

“Thank you, Maryanne,” James says as he shakes Wyatt’s hand.

“Ok you two, you need to get home and spend some time alone together,” Maryanne begins to shoo the lovebirds away.

“But, what about you?”  Leanna questions.

“I knew this was going to happen long before you.  I have an overnight bag packed and Wyatt is letting me crash at his house.  So, you get going now,” she hugs Leanna one more time before James escorts her to his truck.